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Thursday, September 20, 2012

NASCAR Race with the Boy Scouts

Recently, a longtime friend and client invited me to a Nascar night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The races are done in highly modified trucks which speed by at 185 miles per hour. Dan's company, BugBand, supports a young racer named Max Gresham who drives the #8 truck.

The truck is painted in the BugBand company colors. It is easy to spot when you are trying to locate it on the other side of the massive track. It takes nerves of steel to push the trucks to those speeds on a notoriously slick track at night while in a pack of other trucks fighting for position. I have a great respect for those guys.

Along with supporting the racing, Dan also brought a troop of young Boy Scouts with him. They were good lads who seemed to enjoy the experience. Below, a stranger came up and praised them. He said that he used to get picked on for wearing his uniform. It happened to me too, so I know what he was talking about.

Below is my favorite shot of the event. To me is seems like a different era... maybe the early sixties.

Dan arranged a very special treat for the Boy Scouts. They were allowed to go down on the track and meet each racer in person. How cool is that? Here they are in front of the presentation stage. Very soon the same asphalt they are standing on would be a race lane.

Many of the racers were very gracious to the Scouts. Here Max is handing out sticker to the guys.

On top of all that, Dan did not even tell anyone that it was his birthday, though someone figured it out an surprised him with a huge cookie cake with his company logo on it. Good try Dan. You cannot skip your own birthday just because you are taking care of everyone else.